Sometimes it's okay to spend money

I know I talk a lot about saving money, but I just wanted to let you know that it's okay to spend money sometimes too. I see it like this: if you can save money on things that don't really matter (laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, a can of green beans), you can spend that money that you would have spent on a more expensive item on something more important (lunch with friends, date with the husband, family outing).

For example, I never buy name brand food items. I always buy generic. I save a ton, especially since I shop at Aldi's. The one food item that I do splurge on is Schwann's unbreaded chicken breasts. It costs me $17-$20 a box (lasts me every 2 weeks). It's the most amazing chicken. I've tried frozen chicken breasts at an array of grocery stores and they all are gross! They're huge, gritty tasting, and have a lot of fat on them. Schwann's chicken breasts are the right size, no fat, and when cooked properly melts in your mouth. I didn't mean for this to turn into a yay for Schwann's post, I'll be honest I think 99% of their items are overpriced and you're paying for convience instead of quality but seriously the chicken is AWESOME!

Okay, enough about Schwann's. Why do I cook at home; breakfast, lunch, and dinner? To save money of course! It's so expensive to eat out, and cooking at home is healthier. I'm not saying that you should never ever go out to eat. I just like saving all kinds of money by eating at home, so then when an occasion should arise that I need to go out to eat (i.e. eating at an awesome restaurant with a group of girl friends on their outside terrace), it becomes special and enjoyable and I don't fill bad handing over $30 for a 3 hour lunch.

Sometimes it's important to spend a few cents or a few dollars more for certain items. Sometimes generic just doesn't cut it. Although I strongly believe all generic food tastes just as good as the name brand food. I think it's just in the way you cook it. Here are a few things I think you shouldn't skimp on...

Crayons/Markers. Seriously, Crayola is the best! They are the best quality and they don't break/dry up as quickly as the generic. Spend the extra 10cents and pick up Crayola over generic. It'll end up being the better deal in the long run.

Sneakers. There are all kinds of brand of sneakers out there. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. Don't buy them for looks, buy them for performance. Nathan (who does a butt load of running daily) suggests Reebok Zigtech (It's his new running shoe for the moment) he also likes New Balance and Aisc. I do a lot of walking and cardio and I really like my aiscs. They're light, good support, and look good. I got them on sale for around $70.

Trash bags. I used to buy the cheapest ones I could find, then wonder why my trash was smelly. Then the straps would always break or something would poke threw and leak. I haven't had that problem with my Glad ForceFlex.

Jewelry. Cheap jewelry turns your skin green or can cause irritation. It usually breaks quickly or tarnishes. I'm not saying everyone needs to run out and buy only diamonds. Just look for good quality jewelry.

Clothing. I'm not talking about kid's clothing because we all know that they will stain it and grow out of it within months (you should always buy kids clothing at consignment shops, good will, on sale). I'm talking about women's clothing. We should all have a few articles of clothing that is good quality (meaning we're going to pay more) that will last us years. I think a good pair of jeans is critical! You can dress jeans up or they can be casual. I'm pretty tall and I find if I buy a less expensive pair of jeans, they shrink up on me. Again, look for quality. A jacket (denim, khaki, dressy, whatever you like) can be used for all seasons and again can be casual or dressy. A white shirt. Something about a crisp white shirt (collar and buttons) just makes you look pulled together. A pair of khaki pants. They look dressy than jeans so you can wear them to church or work functions. Black dress slacks or black skirt. All these things are basics and can be paired up with a less expensive shirt. I think it's important to have good quality basic items in your wardrobe to be prepared for any occasion.

Alright my ADD is starting to kick in so I can't write anymore. Let me know what you think it's okay to spend a few extra dollars on.

Kids...yay or nay?

To have kids or not to have kids...that is the question. Every woman will face this question some point in their life. I believe that at a very young age, we girls were taught that getting married and having kids is the normal path we all must take. In high school, I thought this was total BS! It seemed so contradictory, in high school we're taught that if you want to be anyone we must all make good grades and go to college. So that's what I did. I made good grades and went to college.



In college I was studying Psychology. In one of my classes, we had to do a group project were you surveyed a group of people, etc. Somehow I ended up with a group of females who wanted to survey college women about their goals in life. To save you from the boring details, I'll skip to the results. We found out that the majority of college women wanted to finish their degrees, get married, have kids and become stay at home moms. WTF? Why even go to college if you're not going to use your degree. I was so confused and vowed that I would never get married or have children (I've been saying this since high school).



My last year of college comes too soon, and I find myself "in love". Maybe it was the fact that I never really had a serious relationship before and this being my first one, I thought this was the real deal. I thought maybe this is what all these girls were talking about. I graduated from college and instead of going on to grad school liked I planned, I found myself moving in with my boyfriend and working at Denny's 45 minutes from my home town. Not exactly living the dream, but I was in love. Neither of us wanted children. This is the only thing we had in common, well that and a love for Ben & Jerry's. Several months later, I found out I wasn't in love and that I was wasting my time being with this lazy, sad excuse for a man.



Who should happen to come along and save me...my now husband, Nathan. Nathan was in the Army (I never thought I would date a military man) and was loaded with potential. He was career orientated and cute! I gave him a shot and we hit it off. We were married 4 months to the day after our first date. Now, I don't recommend this for everyone. Marriage is a big deal, and how do you really know a person in only 4 short months (we lived in different states too). We had an unusual circumstance to deal with...he was going to be deploying for Iraq in a few short months. It just seemed right to get married (and it's worked for us, 5 years going strong). And this is when I learned to NEVER say NEVER! Andrea...married?!? The girl who never really had a boyfriend is now married. Weird I know...it gets better. So after like 2 months of marriage, we find out that I'm pregnant. Holy crap! Me pregnant? I don't even like kids! I can't be pregnant. While I'm freaking out, Nathan is looking at me in awe with the goofiest grin on his face. Men! This is the second time I learned to never say never!

For the next few years I've become a stay-at-home wife and mother. I've done some in home childcare to supplement our income and also have worked a few part time jobs mainly working with children (turns out I'm pretty good with kids). Although my part time work has nothing to do with Psychology...I do get paid more because I have a college degree. So this is the third time I learned never to say never. I think I'm finally getting what these college girls wanted years ago. Is this living the dream? For me it is, I don't want to go back to school but I would love to have a full time job once our daughter is older. If you never want marriage or kids...that's your choice, just watch what you say or you might be eating your words.



So now being married for 5 years and having a wonderful daughter Emma, who's 4, Nathan wants a second child. I don't want anymore children. I've sold everything that is baby related, anything Emma outgrows, I sell. I don't plan on having more children why keep it around. My family keeps telling me that it's wrong if I let Emma grow up as an only child. Nathan is putting the burden on me, for not being able to try for a son to carry on his last name. Yes, you heard that right...we should try for a son to carry on the last name. Not to try for another child to love and nurture and watch grow up and fill our hearts with joy...but to carry on a name. This makes me not want to have anymore children that much more!



I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Maybe I should have children, but I had a really hard time being pregnant with Emma. Nothing health wise, but Nathan was in Iraq. I was a mental mess! I think I'm scared that if I get pregnant again, Nathan will be deployed. That and I don't have the nice "pregnant glow" that all these other soon-to-be-mommies have. I had oily hair with dandruff, acne that reminded me of the high school times, and a triple chin! I didn't look hot! And for the first 4 months of Emma's life, daddy was still in Iraq so I did it all. It was hard! I don't think I want to do that all again. Nathan and I talk about vacations, and traveling the world, buying a house, etc. Babies are expensive and take up like 18 years of your life. Am I being selfish? Am I being cheap? I don't know, but all these things concern me. Let me know what you think.

Chunky Monkey Bars

Have you ever tried searching the internet or your cookbooks for a recipe that has certain ingredients in it, but just can't find it? Well, this happened to me today. I opened up the freezer and saw that we only had 1 granola bar left. Not cool, I had to make another batch immediately! So I go to the cabinet to get the ingredients out, but we're out of chocolate chips. What to use, what to use...I look over and see I have some ripe bananas that need to be eaten or they're going to get thrown out. Awesome, I'll use bananas...what goes good with bananas, peanut butter. Luckily we have massive amounts of peanut butter on hands at all times. Okay, I need to follow a recipe now. I go online and nothing! So I kinda came up with my own and it turned into what I like to call Chunky Monkey Bars.

Chunky Monkey Bars

1. 1 cup peanut butter
2. 1/3 cup butter (softened)
3. 1/2 cup honey
4. 2 tsp. vanilla
5. 2 mashed bananas
6. 1/2 cup brown sugar
7. 2 1/2 cups oats
8. 3 cups crispy rice cereal
9. 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (or use chocolate chunks/chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, honey, vanilla, bananas, and brown sugar together. Add in oats, crispy rice cereal, and protein powder. Stir until everything is combined, then pour into prepared pan and lightly press mixture down. Bake for 20-23 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

I thought these tasted pretty good! I made Nathan try one and he immediately went back for a second one, so they must taste okay.

Tip for mashing bananas...put however many bananas you need for a recipe, peeled and cut in half in a sandwich baggie. Make sure all the air is out of the baggie and squeeze it. After they're all mashed up, cut a corner of the baggie and squirt into your bowl. Easy and mess-free!

It's hot out, drink some water!

You've heard it before, drinking eight 8-oz glasses of water everyday is good for you and you're suppose to do it! I've never really set out to drink exactly 64oz of water everyday. I just drink when I'm thirsty. Well, I was curious yesterday and decided to try it.

Now remember, I don't really drink anything else but water. Sometimes I'll have a glass of Kool-aid or sweet tea, maybe even a soda but this is rare. When I woke up yesterday morning, I came downstairs to the sink. I grabbed a plastic pitcher and my measuring cup. I filled my measuring cup up enough times to equal 64oz. It didn't even fill my small pitcher (this is good news). I pour myself a glass of water and put the pitcher in the fridge.

I didn't force myself to drink it, I just drank how I normally would. Turns out I finished my pitcher of water without any problems. Maybe you too should try this. It wouldn't hurt to find out exactly how much water you really do drink in a day. This isn't going to hurt you, it's water...you know that substance that like 60% of your body is made up of.

Yes, I get my water from the tap. Some of you might think this is disgusting, but our water tastes just fine. Back home, our water is gross so I would suggest buying a water filter for your tap water. Just depends on your taste. I would NOT buy expensive bottles of water. That's just ridiculous! You might think that they are more convenient, but you can go spend $5 on a nice reusable water bottle (you can buy these anywhere). They even have fancy ones with built in filters, but they cost more. Let's rid the Earth from plastic bottles and think of smarter and "greener" options.

Did you know that drinking ice cold water can help you burn calories? Yeah, I didn't know that either until my husband told me (I'll be honest, I didn't believe him at first). After doing a bit of research, you can burn around 70 calories from drinking your 64oz of ice cold water.

Let's say you give this a try, and you're not able to drink all that water. What does that mean. You know, maybe you don't need all that water. Maybe you have a smaller frame and your body doesn't need that much to help it function properly. Maybe you live a more sedentary lifestyle, there are tons of maybes...if you're really concerned, talk to your doctor. I say, as long as your pee isn't bright yellow (meaning your dehydrated) you'll be fine.

Waffles, yes please!

I love breakfast food! Who doesn't? I can seriously eat breakfast for any meal of the day. We often have breakfast for dinner because I always have the ingredients on hand and it doesn't take very long to cook.

Waffles and pancakes are a staple in my freezer. No, I don't go out and buy the ego brand. Those aren't real. I make my own and freeze them. They take little time to mix and cook, so why not make your own? I'm going to give you 2 recipes for 2 completely different tasting waffles that you just HAVE to try!

CHOCOLATE WAFFLES

1. 1 1/2 cups flour
2. 2 tsp. baking flour
3. 1/2 tsp. baking soda
4. 1/2 tsp. salt
5. 1/2 cup sugar
6. 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
7. 1 cup milk
8. 2 eggs
9. 1 tsp. vanilla
10. 4 tablespoons melted butter

Stir all your dry ingredients together in a bowl. Next mix your butter, vanilla, eggs, and milk together. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined (don't over stir). Once your waffle iron is heated, spray with a non-stick spray and pour 1/3 cup of batter in. Remember not to open up your waffle iron while cooking these. Trust the light on the outside that lets you know when it's done.

OATMEAL WAFFLES

1. 1 1/2 cups flour
2. 1 cup quick-cooking oats
3. 1 Tablespoon baking powder
4. 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5. 1/4 tsp. salt
6. 2 eggs
7. 1 1/2 cups milk
8. 6 Tablespoons melted butter
9. 2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Stir flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In another bowl slightly beat 2 eggs and milk, butter, and brown sugar then stir. Add to dry ingredients and stir until blended (don't over stir). Pour 1/3 cup batter onto your preheated waffle iron that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Again, don't open the waffle iron, trust the light on top.

Both waffles are amazing and they fill you up, unlike store-bought waffles. All I do to store them in the freezer is let them cool completely, then I layer them in a freezer bag with wax paper (or parchment paper) so they don't stick together in the freezer. No need to thaw before throwing them in the microwave for 45 seconds or your toaster oven.

How to clean stuff

Sunday's are my clean day. Every Sunday I clean the whole house, no matter how beautiful of a day it is, I always clean house on Sunday. I can thank my mom for this. Growing up, she would wake us kids up with the sound of Enya playing on the jukebox. It was the most annoying way to wake up! The most pathetic part about all this...my mom actually paid people to come clean our house on Monday's! Yes, we cleaned before the cleaning ladies came. So now, as an adult, I'm anal about how clean my house is. I suppose it's not a bad trait, who would want to visit if I lived in filth? Exactly, no one.



There are a couple of things I never gave a thought about cleaning until a year or so ago. The first being makeup brushes. Think about it, you use them daily and all the build up is just living in the bristles and you happily apply it to your face everyday! Gross! The easiest way to clean them is to get 2 glasses or plastic cups. Fill one with water, fill the other 1/2 full with rubbing alcohol (less if you don't have many brushes). Take your first brush and dip it in the alcohol. Swirl it, dunk it, get the crap out of them. Then dip it in the water. Get a paper towel and dry it off a bit. Set it aside and start again with the next brush. I usually just place them on a clean paper towel and have the brushes hanging off the counter. When they're dry, you can fluff them up by giving them a twirl. Not to gross you out, but you're rubbing alcohol cup is going to look like chocolate milk. Better in the cup than your face! You should clean your brushes once a week.

You probably don't clean your sunglasses, do ya? I never did. I wear the great big sunglasses that cover up half my face. When I sweat, a combination of my oil and makeup residue sticks to the nose piece of my glasses and even on the bottom rim of the lenses (Mine pretty much rest on my checks). Just take a q-tip and dip it in your rubbing alcohol and clean off your sunglasses. Lay them in a safe place to dry off.


A household item I use everytime I clean is the evil sponge. Apparently they're the most bacteria infested item in your house. Good to know they're made for cleaning (makes you think why they even sell them). You should use a new sponge every week but honestly, who does that? You should sanitize them a few times per week. Immediately if you clean up areas that were in contact with raw meat.


So to sanitize a sponge, all you do is put a little soap on it, work it in and then rinse all of it off with running warm water. After it runs clear, soak it with clean water (or put it in a dish with water in it) and place it in the microwave. Cook it for 2 minutes. I tend to do 30 seconds, flip, another 30 seconds, flip until i reach 2 minutes. They're going to be hot, so either us a pot holder or tongs when handling.


I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be posting information on homemade cleaners and laundry detergent pretty soon. I've tried some homemade cleaners today and was impressed by how well they worked. Be looking forward to that post! In the meantime, I hope you give these tips a try.

Are you wasteful?

I've been doing a lot of research on the internet lately on how to save money, how to live a more frugal life, how to be "green", etc. One article I came across was about how wasteful Americans have become. I don't believe myself to be a huge wasteful American, until I was in the bathroom unrolling toilet paper and had seriously 10 squares of toilet paper. I just stopped and stared at the roll. Did I really need that huge wad of toilet paper to wipe pee off with (Yeah, TMI I'm sure but it opened my eyes). I ended up only using 3 squares.

Now I'm not telling you that everyone needs to use less toilet paper (although it could potentially save our trees and save you just a tad bit of money), but I want everyone to be aware of how much "product" they use. I tried doing my daily routine yesterday with the mantra of not to be wasteful. When I was squeezing out my toothpaste, I made sure I only used a pea sized amount. No need to cover your whole brush with toothpaste. More isn't going to get them any cleaner. I tried this with shampoo, body wash, hand soap, dish soap, laundry soap, hair products, running water, face wash, toilet paper, paper towels, (which I plan on cutting out and only using rags from old tshirts) etc. The verdict was that a little bit will do ya!

Do you waste food? I was taught, growing up, to only put a small amount of food on my plate. That way I ate everything, and if I was still hungry I could go get more. If you loaded your plate up with food and then didn't eat everything, then you were lectured about "how there is starving children in the world and what they would give for the food that you're wasting!" Maybe I need to start applying that lesson to everything around me. I invite you to be more conscious with how much "product" you use and I plan on doing the same thing.

The less we use, the less we'll have to buy, the less money we'll spend, the less bottles and packaging will end up in landfills. None of this sounds bad, it's worth a try to help our bank accounts and the Earth.

Selling on Craigslist

I made an easy $65 in 3 days doing nothing but taking a couple of pictures and typing up some words on the internet. I sold clothes that Emma couldn't fit into any longer and her car seat that she outgrew. Easy money!



Maybe you haven't tried selling items on craigslist (or your local "trading post") before. You should try it, I've always had a positive outcome. For people who haven't always gotten their stuff sold, I think their making a couple of mistakes. So here's a few tips you should follow, and mistakes to avoid!

1. Don't overprice your things. The whole point of selling your stuff, is to get it sold and out of the house. Who wants to buy a used couch off craigslist that's almost the same price brand new at a furniture store? NO ONE, so be reasonable when you price your items.



2. Take pictures. People tend to only look at ads with pictures. We want to see what your item looks like, if you don't have a picture people tend to think that you're trying to sell us garbage!



3. Be descriptive. I hate it when someone is vague or points out the obvious (i.e. selling a highchair). You should list what condition it's in, how long you've had it, why you're selling it, if there are any recalls, where you orginally purchased the item, it's nice to include a link to the store that has the real description, how much it costs, and how to contact you.



4. Spell check. There is no bigger turn off then the seller not knowing how to spell what he's selling. Makes us seem like you're trying to scam us.



5. Be honest. We'll find out if you're lying. For example, if you're selling clothes and some of them have a few small stains or holes, list it when you're describing each article of clothing. Let the buyer know up front.



6. Sell in bulk. Clothing is hard to sell. Who wants to buy just 1 shirt. If you have a bunch of clothing that's all the same size, sell it altogether. That's what I do with Emma's clothing. Sell all the 2T together, then all the 3T, etc. I plan on doing this with mine and Nathan's clothing as well. Sell all same sized shirts together, all same sized pants together, etc. This goes for toys too. If you have an abundance of baby toys, sell them all together. No one wants to make a trip for 1 barbie.



7. Don't let people waste your time. The longest part of selling your things, is waiting for people to pick them up. Don't let the first person to email you wait until pay day to pick it up. You want it out of the house now! I usually try to be fair and let whoever emails me first, the first chance to pick it up withthin a time frame that I choose. I've also tried a first come first serve chance too. Just let all people interested know that whoever gets to your house first, will be the one to buy it. Make sure you give them a phone number so they can call to see if your item is still available (we don't want to waste other people's time either).



8. Watch out for scams. Unfortunately, when you put your email address out there, you're going to receive junk mail. Lots of emails that claim they're interested in your ad but "not sure if this is your's or not...could you click on the link to see if this is your ad" Don't do it. Never click on links from people you don't know. You'll be able to tell if it's a true person or not. You could always set up a new email address specifically for selling on the internet.



9. Always recieve payment in cash. Don't risk it with checks. The whole point is to make money, not have to pay the bank fees when it bounces.
   

If you use these tips and avoid the mistakes, you'll have a positive experience selling on craigslist!

***What to do with things that don't sell or you only have mismatched clothes, or random toys...DONATE! Emma and I donated 5 paper bag fulls, 2 walmart bags, and an umbrella stroller to our local Salvation Army. It feels good to help out and I got to teach Emma what giving really means***

You don't have to be a Scene girl to wear a bow!

I'm 27 and can rock a hair bow! Emma's 4 and looks super cute with bows in her hair. My middle-schoolers make hair bows look cool. We're not Scene. Well, maybe some of my middle-schoolers are, but not all!



Making your own hair bows can be fun and rewarding. Teenagers enjoy designing their own and feel proud to wear their creations. Moms love the fact that you can make 10 bows to the price of 1 store-bought bow, and little girl's feel like princesses wearing them. Me and Emma knocked out these 4 bows this rainy afternoon. It took less than 2 hours. I wish I had a better camera so you could see them in more detail (I'm saving up for a new one).



All it takes is a pair of scissors, a ruler, a lighter, ribbon, alligator clip, and a glue gun. Most of us have these things lying around the house. Alligator clips...maybe not. You can get a huge box of them for $5 at Sally's (I recommend the double prong). There are sooo many different kinds of bows to make and the Internet is a great place to look up free tutorials! My favorite website is http://www.girlythingsbow.com/ Her site offers step by step instructions for beginner type bows to the boutique style bows.



If you come across a rainy afternoon and don't know what to do...try making your own bows. They're fun to wear and make freakin' awesome gifts for babies and toddlers! If you get really good at making these, you can start selling and making some money off these babies. Maybe you're not all that crafty but think these are super cute and want to buy them. STOP! Before you go run out to Gymboree and pay $8 for one of these, check on craigslist to see if a local makes bows. Usually you can get a custom made bow for dirt cheap (plus you feel better helping someone out and not giving your money to big corporations :) ) If you don't have craigslist, try etsy.com This site lets people sell their handmade creations to buyers directly. It's pretty neat, check it out.

Not your 3-bite granola bar

You know what's really annoying? Buying a box of granola bars or breakfast bars and at the end of the day they're all gone because you can only get 6 in a box! Not to mention, that they only take 3 bites to eat. How can you even enjoy that? I found an awesome granola bar recipe that tastes a lot like the Quaker brand. And it only takes minutes to put together!

Ingredients

• 4 cups rolled oats
  
• 1 cup all purpose flour
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 1 stick of butter, softened
  
• 1/2 cup honey
  
• 1/2 cup applesauce
  
• Up to 2 cups of extra goodness

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. In a large mixing bowl, mix oats, flour, baking soda. In a small dish mix butter with honey, vanilla, and applesauce. Pour into dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Stir in your 2 cups of goodness (i.e. 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 marshmallows or craisins, coconut, or trail mix) ***I used 1/2 cup chocolate chip and 1/2 mini marshmallows for a more "smore granola bar." Press mixture into your prepared pan and put it in the oven for 18-22 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes then cut into 18 bars.

***To ensure they're not crumbly, put pan in the freezer and freeze for 10 minutes, then take them out of the pan. I put them in a gallon baggie and keep them in the freezer, sometimes I wrap them individually with cling-n-seal so Nathan can take them in his lunch box.***

***Not into oats, use 2 cups oats and 2 1/2 cups of crispy rice***

***I've made them a few times now and prefer the additon of crispy rice***

These taste amazing! My smore granola bars run at 169 calories each. Seems like a lot of calories but they're made with whole wheat oats and they're double the size of the store bought ones. I plan on trying them with whole wheat flour and a healthier extra goodness rather than my chocolate and marshmallows. Give them a try, your family will love you for it!

Pot Roast To Die For

Working at an after-school program (yay for summer break) means I don't come home until 6pm. The last thing I want to do is cook dinner. My new best friend is the crock pot (slow cooker to some). It's so easy to throw a bunch of ingredients in the crock pot, turn the dial on low and leave it for 8 hours. The best part is walking in the door and smelling the wondrous aroma of whatever you're cooking and get to eat it immediately! Another good reason to use the crock pot, especially during the summer months, is because it doesn't heat your whole house up to a boiling 85 degrees! Did you know it costs only cents to run a crock pot for 8 hours! It's a win win situation!

My all time favorite meal is pot roast. Growing up, my mom always asked the kids what we wanted our birthday dinner to be. Mine was always pot roast...my birthday is July 4th. It's okay to eat hearty in the summer. I just tried a new recipe thanks to allrecipes.com and I wanted to share it with you because it's pretty damn close to tasting like my mother's pot roast!

Three Packet Pot Roast (feeds 6)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup water (or beef broth)
• 1 (.7oz) package of dry italian salad dressing mix
• 1 (1oz) package of dry ranch dressing mix
• 1 (.75oz) package of brown gravy
• 1 (3lbs) boneless beef chuck roast (or whatever's on sale)

Directions:

Rinse off chuck roast and place it in crock pot. ***Optional & Recommended, throw in half a bag of baby carrots, 4 peeled and sliced potatoes, and half an onion***In a small bowl, combine water, italian, ranch, and gravy mixes. Mix until smooth. Pour the sauce over the top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I usually make this for 3 people, so I cut everything in half.

Money

People that are trying to lose weight are told to keep a food journal. Makes sense, keep track of everything that you put in your mouth and soon you'll find out how many calories you're eating and at what time of the day. While taking a late afternoon nap in Jamaica (saved up and paid for) I had the TV on and was flipping through the channels. I stopped on Oprah, it was about her "Debt Diet". A radio personality was giving his testimony about the kind of debt he was in, and his plan on getting out. One trick he mentioned was keeping a debt diary. All he did was keep a small pad of paper and pen with him. Everytime he made a purchase, he wrote what he bought and how much it cost him. At the end of the day, he could go back and see just how much he spent. I think it's an awesome idea!

Do you really know how much you spend? Yeah it's one thing to have a balanced check book, but that doesn't tell you what you're spending your money on. Try it, you'll be amazed at some of the stupid purchases you make on impulse. It might even help you to stop those impulse purchases...are you really going to want to write down that you spent $4 on a cup of coffee??? Or how about a $3 magazine and $1 candy bar.???

Nathan and I have tried this before. We found out that Nathan spends a lot of money on gas station purchases (things like candy bars, waters, diet sodas, snacks). He also spends money going out to eat for lunch and on occasion buying breakfast for his fellow co-workers. This is when I decided that I was going to make him breakfast at home and just freeze them so that all he has to do at 4am is pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds. I make waffles in bulk, popovers, bacon/egg/cheese biscuits, things of that nature. I also make his lunches for him. Sometimes it's leftovers from dinner the night before, or sometimes I make him something special for lunch. Candy bars are sooo delicious and sooo bad for you so I make homemade granola bars. Saves on money and calories!

What do I spend my money on? The biggest expense is our bills. I recently just looked at our cell phone bill. It was $120. I was looking at how many minutes we use, less than 200! HOLY CRAP, am I really paying that much money for 200 minutes! I simply went online and changed my plan for less minutes. It's going to save us around $40. I encourage you to take a look at your cell phone bill too.
Another bill that is expensive is our cable/net. Once you sign up for cable/net, they give you an awesome deal, then 6 months later they increase it, then 2 months later they increase that...why should you pay that?!? We've called and complained about the increase and they actually lowered it. Then a couple months later they increase it again, so we do the whole routine again and they lower it back down. Guess what, they just increased it back up to $100. We use our internet like it's going out of style, but for cable...it's usually on PBS, nick jr, or the military channel. We can do without cable. So we call them back up again and this time they won't lower it...so we tell them to go ahead and cancel our cable. This throws them off and they have to ask us literally 7 times if we are sure we want to cancel the cable. YES WE DO, WE'RE TIRED OF PLAYING GAMES WITH YOU! That's $60 saved! Go with netflix. $10 beats the price of cable and their tricks!

I hope you give the notepad tip a try. Do it for 1 week, just to give you an idea of what you're really spending your money on. Take my tip, and look at your bills. If you think you're paying too much, get them on the phone and have them lower it. It never hurts to call and ask. The worst they can say is, no, i'm sorry have a good day.

Yogurt Pops

My family LOVES popsicles, fudgepops, ice cream cones, any and all frozen treats! Who doesn't, right? Has anyone looked at the nutrition facts on the box? High calories, tons of sugar, weird ingredients I've never heard of, not exactly what I want in a treat. I decided to make my own, healthier version of a frozen treat I found at allrecipes.com. I call them yogurt pops. Here's the recipe:



1 cup boiling water

1 (3 oz) package of strawberry flavored Jell-O

Handful of frozen strawberries

1 cup strawberry yogurt

8 small plastic cups

8 craft sticks



Combine boiling water and Jell-O in a blender and pulse until Jell-O is dissolved. Add in your strawberries and pulse until mixture is smooth, next add in your yogurt and mix until everything is smooth. Pour into 8 small plastic cups and freeze until firm, then add in your craft sticks and freeze completely. Calories per serving 69. ***** out of *****



To make it healthier you can use sugar-free Jell-O and fat-free yogurt. This is just a base recipe, feel free to use different flavored Jell-O, different fruit, and different flavored yogurt. Next I'm trying a strawberry banana pop! Yummy!



I use the cup and craft stick method because it's what I have on hand. If you have popsicle molds, use them! I've heard of people putting them in shot glasses and muffin tins. Whatever method you use, you can't mess them up, they all work!

Super Product of the Day is...

So last night, as I'm getting ready to wash my face, I reach into my bathroom cabinet and grab a product to help me take off my eye makeup. No, it's not eye makeup remover! Are you crazy?!? Why would I pay such a high price for something that I can get a huge bottle of, basically the same thing, for CHEAP? I'm talking about baby oil! I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited to tell everyone about baby oil...

I checked out some prices and I found that at the dollar store you can get a 14 fl. oz bottle for $1. At wal-mart you can get a 20 fl. oz bottle for $2.34. For eye makeup remover, the inexpensive brand costs $3.94 for only 4 fl. oz! I'm tellin' ya, switch to baby oil! I don't want to hear any excuses like, "well a big bottle won't fit in my makeup bag or bathroom cabinet" fine...use you're really expensive bottle of remover...and fill it up with baby oil! Or buy $1 travel bottle and fill it up!

There are other uses for baby oil as well. Anyone own any leather handbags, shoes, furniture, etc? Dab some on a cloth and shine up your leather products. Again, why pay more for leather polish or leather balm when you can get the same result with your baby oil? Has anyone ever ran out of shaving cream and had to dry shave your legs? Never again! Use baby oil, it keeps your legs nice and moisturized. The next time you have something sticky on your plastic, glass, whatever surface...reach for the baby oil over goo-be-gone! It won't disappoint!

Welcome to the World of Blogging

So this is my first blog EVER! Why am I starting you may ask...because I wanted a place where I can share my opinions, views, tips, loves and dislikes with my friends and family.

My husband, Nathan, calls me cheap, but I would refer to myself as a thrifty spender. I budget, save, shop around, and somehow managed to become the ultimate NO to the rest of my family when they want to buy silly things (i.e. boats, motorcycles, grills, etc...sorry babe). It's hard at times and sometimes we slip up and splurge on things we don't need(cookies at 10pm) but for the most part we're doing pretty good. I can proudly say that we have no student loans, no credit card debt, money in our savings, and thanks to me Nathan's credit score has greatly improved! Next step is paying off auto loans.

I work part-time at an after-school program and love it! But it's part time and doesn't pay a whole lot (oh the price you pay to stay at home with the kids and to work). Nathan's a SSG in the Army, the pay is alright but not for the amount of hours he works...but I'm not complaining! So I've had to get creative with how we spend money for necessities, and how to save money for everything else in life. Cooking instead of going out to eat saves money. I can cook a meal for 4 for the price it is for 1 meal at a restaurant. We don't go to the movies, unless it's at the drive-in where we can watch 2 movies and Emma get's in free (shhh but sometimes we sneak in our own snacks) for half the cost of 2 movie theater tickets! Goodbye cable and hello Netflix! These are just a few things that I do and I plan on blogging about. Anything that I save money on or found a new tip to do just that, I plan to share with you. I also do a lot of cooking/baking and plan to post recipes with reviews to share with all of you so that you can try them and love them too!